Cyborg
by Snowy Stoat
Summary: The dolphin Francis seemed to have a normal life, not perfect and not terrible. But he always had a secret deep inside of him: his intellect. He knew that he was smarter than all the other dolphins. But his intelligence couldn't save him from being captured by humans, forced to amuse these ignorant beings, and slowly being turned into someone even the old him would be terrified of.
1. Prologue

**...**

**Hello everybody. **

**Since I really have no ideas for my ****fan fiction **

**'Back to the Underworld' at the moment, I thought**

**I'd write a different fanfic first. Also, I was just**

**bored. **

**I don't know how often I will be writing on this**

**fanfic, though. Because I'm also very busy with**

**DeviantArt and my original books.**

**But I'll do my best to update it as soon as I can.**

**Snowy Stoat.**

**...**

**...**

**Cyborg.**

**Prologue.**

**...**

The water was dark and cold, without any sign of life aside from the dark shadow that was making it's way through the dark blue sea.

It wasn't completely dark, though. There was one tiny little light inside the dark, moving shadow. A little yet sharp light that was shining bright red. It was barely bright enough to lead the dolphin in the shadows through the dark ocean.

But he didn't care.

When people hear the word 'Dolphin' they often immediately think of happy, blue dolphins that play with balls and jump through hoops. But this dolphin wasn't anything like that stereotype. He was different.

Once he had indeed been a dolphin that played with beach balls and jumped through hoops. But he shivered when he thought back of it.

Being forced to do tricks just to amuse those human beings. Being locked up in a small aquarium, cut off from the sea where he was born in. Cut off from the life he once had, and never would have again.

The humans didn't know anything. They thought they had created a little dolphin paradise. But for this dolphin it had been nothing but torture. Oh, how he hated the humans. They were all ignorant, stupid, selfish…

"I will get them," the dolphin muttered to himself. "all of them. Just wait, I will make every single human in this world pay. Then they will be the one who jump through hoops to amuse me. They will be the one who suffer in imprisonment. I will make them feel what I felt… when they forced me to jump through that cursed Ring of Fire."

Only the thought of the Ring of Fire made his skin crawl, and he again felt that burning pain in his right eye. He brought a flipper to the eye, but all he could feel was metal. His old eye was gone, but he had a new one. It wasn't the same, but at least he could see. And the red light actually helped. At least now he could see better in the dark.

Yet it was no relief. His scar was deeper than could be seen from the outside.

His soul had been wounded in that aquarium. And no cyborg technology could heal that wound.


	2. Chapter 1 - the fisher's ship

**Cyborg.**

**Chapter 1 – the fisher's ship.**

…

_A long time ago._

Dolphins never sleep. They only rest, since they are able to let one side of their brains sleep while the other side keeps on controlling the body. That way they can't drown.

This was exactly what Francis was doing: resting. He was calmly swimming right under the surface of the water with his eyes closed. He wasn't really thinking of anything, because he had shut down all unnecessary actions from his brain. He didn't need to think now.

But the voice of a female dolphin calling his name woke him up.

"Francis!"

Francis opened his eyes and looked right into the face of a beautiful young dolphin with big blue eyes.

She smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Oh, hi sis." Francis said.

Francis' younger sister Doris didn't look very much like him. There were some similarities, but those weren't very obvious to see. Doris was beautiful and had her mother's blue eyes. Francis wasn't very handsome, and his small eyes were a little too close together.

"Why did you wake me up?" Francis asked his sister.

"It's morning, of course," Doris said, smiling. "and class starts in a few minutes."

As Doris swam away, Francis sighed. Just like all the other young dolphins, he had to follow class. An old whale named William would teach them all about life in the sea. And some of those lessons were harder then you would expect.

But that wasn't what Francis found so annoying about class. For all those other dolphins of his age William's teaching was very interesting, and sometimes difficult. Francis just thought it was boring, because for him it was all just too easy.

For as long as he could remember, Francis had known he was different from the other dolphins. He understood things that the others couldn't understand. Dolphins were always known as intelligent creatures, but with Francis it was different.

Francis' intelligence was higher than any other dolphin he knew. He could understand math much better, he could understand how machines worked and how they were build, he knew the difficult names of plants, animals, machines and things that humans made up. He could even read, which was something only a few animals could.

Nobody however knew about all of this. Francis had always kept it a secret even since he had realized it himself. He was afraid that if the others found out he was different, they would abandon him. He already wasn't very popular. The other young dolphins didn't bully him and weren't mean to him, but they didn't talk much to him either. The dolphin Francis talked to most was his sister Doris. She wasn't only his sister, she was the best friend he had around there.

After eating some fish for breakfast, Francis swam to the old shipwreck where class always started.

Many years ago an old pirate ship had perished in a fight against two ships from England. All who were on board died, and the ship sunk to the bottom of the sea. Nowadays William the whale lived in it.

When Francis arrived, the others were already there.

Doris turned her head and saw her brother swimming towards her.

"Francis! What where you doing, class has already started." she said.

William the whale, who had been talking to the group of young dolphins, turned around to see Francis.

"Ah, there you are, Francis," he said. "you're late."

"Sorry, sir," Francis said. "I forgot the time."

William sighed. "Well, I'll let it be this time, but next time you're too late you will have to take responsibilities. Do you understand, Francis?"

Francis looked down. "Yes, sir." He said.

As William went on explaining what he would be teaching them that day, Francis swam next to his sister and tried to pay attention. But his mind kept wandering off.

He looked up at the light from the world above water. He had never been out of the sea longer than a few seconds when he jumped above water to breathe. He often wondered what the life on land would be like.

Francis and Doris' mother was very protective over her two children, and never allowed them to go too far away from home. Honestly, Francis couldn't blame her. Her husband, Francis and Doris' father, had died when he came too close to the land. The waves threw him on the beach of America along with some of his friends.

It was a very hot day, and the sun burned the skin of the poor dolphins. The humans that were on the beach tried to help them. But they couldn't get the dolphins back to the sea. Francis didn't know how long it had taken for the dolphins to die. But a few days later a seagull had told Francis and Doris' mother the sad news.

Francis and Doris were only children back then. They were both too young to understand death, and their poor mother had to explain it to them. Now that Francis was older, he understood. And so did Doris.

"Francis, are you paying attention?"

William's voice woke Francis up from his thoughts.

"Oh, um…" Francis stuttered. "yes, sir."

"Then what did I just say?" William asked impatiently.

Francis was silent for a while, then he sighed. "I don't know, sir."

William shook his head disapprovingly.

"Francis," he said. "tell me: why you are here?"

Francis hesitated, and then said skeptically: "to… learn?"

"Indeed," William said. "and how do you plan to learn when you never pay attention?"

"I'm sorry, sir," Francis said. "it won't happen again."

William nodded shortly. "Good," he said. "now, where was I?"

At that moment a shadow fell over the group of dolphins and the whale. They looked up to see a strange shaped object above them, that seemed to be floating on the water.

"What is that?" Doris wondered out loud.

"That's a ship, of course," Francis said. "what else could it be?"

William looked up at the ship. "That's strange," he said. "Normally ships don't come in this area. I wonder what the humans are doing here. There's nothing interesting to find here."

He looked back at his students again. "Let's just leave them be," he said. "they won't disturb us if we just leave them alone. Now, where was I?"

Suddenly he noticed an empty spot next to Doris. He blinked a few times, then his eyes widened.

"Wait," he said. "where is Francis?"

…

Francis' curiosity had gotten the better of him quite soon. Humans were much more interesting than William's boring lessons. At least he felt like he could learn something from watching the humans.

He had always thought humans were strange, intelligent creatures. They could build all those great machines that made life easier for them. They even had a machine that made them fly. Dolphins never build things like that, and Francis thought that was a shame.

He was sure he could build machines, too. If the others just gave him the chance. But they never did, and he was never allowed to go far away from home to study the humans better.

Now humans were just sailing right above his home. That was a great opportunity to get to know more about them, right?

Francis swam to the surface until his head was out of the water and he could see the boat.

It wasn't a very big boat, so Francis knew it couldn't be one of those ships that humans held their vacations on.

On the boat, humans were working with huge nets. What on earth were they doing?

As Francis watched the humans for a while, he soon found out what they were doing. They were using those nets to catch fish.

"So humans like fish, just like us?" Francis though out loud. "Maybe we're not as different as we thought."

Suddenly, one of the humans looked his way. Francis wasn't sure what he should do now. Should he swim away? Was there danger?

The human shouted something at his shipmates that Francis couldn't understand. The other people on the ship walked towards the human who had seen Francis. They all looked at him and pointed at him. Eventually, a human with a blue hat walked towards the others. Francis could see that he was the captain of the ship by the way the others acted when he came.

The captain talked with his men for a while. Francis swam closer to the ship in the hope to find out what they were saying.

"If a dolphin gets caught in our nets, we're in trouble," the captain said. "we'll have to leave and find a better place."

"Aye, captain." one of the men said.

Francis frowned at he watched the humans turn the ship around. Were they leaving already? They were barely there.

Suddenly, someone grabbed his tail and pulled him under water again. He quickly turned around and looked right into the face of a very angry William.

"Are you insane, Francis?" the whale asked angrily. "you can't go to the humans. What if you were caught in one of those nets? You would have been dead."

"But…" Francis said.

"No, not 'but'," William said. "You are getting back to class. And after class I'm going to have a word with your mother."

Francis sighed. "Yes, sir." He said as he slowly swam back to the group. Everyone was looking at him, and he felt quite uncomfortable. Luckily when William started his lessons again, the dolphins turned their attention towards him again and nobody paid any attention to Francis.


	3. Chapter 2 - Francis' secret

**Cyborg.**

**Chapter 2 – Francis' secret.**

…

"Francis, what were you thinking? You could have been dead! What if those humans hadn't seen you, and you got caught in one of their nets? You have no idea how lucky you are that you survived."

Francis was only half listening to what his mother was saying. He didn't understand why it was such a drama. After all, he was only curious. And were humans really as dangerous as his mother and William always said? Francis had always heard stories about dolphins saving humans from drowning, and humans and dolphins swimming together and being friends. Where all those stories really only fairy tales? Or did Francis just have the misfortune of living in the only dolphin colony that was afraid of humans?

"Francis, are you listening to me?"

Francis looked up at his mother. "Yes, mother," he said. "But I don't understand…. Why do we have to be so afraid of humans? They don't look that dangerous. And they tried to help father when he…"

His mother cut him off. "Please, Francis," she said. "you have no idea what humans are really like. Sure, there are dolphins who think they are the human's friends. But they don't know about the history of humans and whales."

"What history?" Francis asked. This sounded quite interesting.

His mother just sighed and shook her head. "Maybe you will find out sometime," she said. "I don't think now is the right time to tell you. Now let's go, it's almost dinner time."

As Francis followed his mother through the water, he softly muttered: "I think humans are fascinating."

His mother didn't hear him and kept on swimming.

…

Francis and Doris' mother was named Nora. Despite her age she was still a beautiful dolphin. But she was mostly known for her kindness.

Nora actually felt a little bad for how she had acted towards her son. Was she being too strict? After all, Francis was still a young dolphin. He wasn't completely an adult yet, and Nora knew that many dolphins at that age were curious. They wanted to see the world, go exploring.

But Nora had always been terrified to lose her children. She was afraid that Francis might one day leave their colony like many other young male dolphins did. Francis and Doris were all hat was left of Nora's family, and she couldn't bear it to loose them.

But maybe it wouldn't hurt to let Francis explore some more of the ocean sometime? Nora wasn't sure. Maybe she should ask William for advice.

They arrived at their home behind a large rock under the water. Doris was already there waiting for them.

"Hi, mom," she said. Then she turned to Francis. "Hi, Francis. Are you okay."

"I'm fine," Francis said, not looking his sister in the eyes. "don't worry."

"Are you sure?" Doris asked.

Francis just turned his head away, and Nora put a flipper on Doris' shoulder.

"It's best to leave him alone for a while, dear," she said softly.

…

The next morning was Saturday, which meant that there was no class that day.

Francis woke up early in the morning, his mother and sister were still sleeping. He silently swam away, trying not to wake them.

He had all day to himself, so he could do whatever he wanted. Maybe he could go back up again… see if there were any more humans. Or he could dive all the way to the bottom to see if there was anything interesting on the bottom of the sea. Sometimes there was old human stuff to be found down there. Old machines and parts of ships and such.

But just as Francis was thinking of all that, his mother and sister came down from the surface too.

"Good morning, Francis," Nora said, smiling.

"Oh, good morning mom," Francis said, trying to not sound too disappointed. He had hoped he could get away from home before his mother would see him. Now she might give him some task to do, or order him to stay home.

"Listen, Francis," Nora said. "I'm going to have a talk with William again. If you promise to stay home with Doris today, I'll catch something special for dinner. Okay?"

Francis sighed. And there his plans went down the sewer. But then he nodded.

"Okay, mom."

Nora smiled and kissed her son on his forehead. "That's my boy," she said. "Now be good, I won't stay away too long. And catch something for your breakfast."

"Bye, mom!" Doris said as Nora swam away.

"Great," Francis said when Nora had disappeared in the dark blue water. "now I'm stuck here all day. And I had so many things in mind that I wanted to do."

"Well, we could think of something fun to do at home," Doris said. "maybe a game?"

"Hm," Francis said, folding his flippers over his chest in a grumpy way.

Doris sighed. There was nothing more boring than being stuck at home with a brother who doesn't want to do anything fun.

"Okay, so what do you want to do?" Doris asked.

"Don't you think we're a little too old for games, Doris?" Francis asked.

Doris just shrugged.

"Let's go do something interesting," Francis continued. "like diving all the way to the bottom and try to find human stuff."

"But we need to stay at home," Doris said. "mom said…"

"She doesn't need to know," Francis said. "we won't stay away too long. I just want to do something more interesting than staying at home and playing games. There's lots of interesting stuff to be found on the bottom. And it isn't dangerous, it's just a bit deep that's all."

Doris sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Okay then," she said. "But only for a little while, and if we get caught you take the responsibilities."

"Of course," Francis said. "I'm the older brother, after all."

He swam away and Doris quickly followed her brother down to the bottom of the sea.

…

"Nora? What are you doing here? I though we were done talking."

Nora sighed as she looked the old whale in the eyes.

"Listen, William," she said. "I'm afraid I'm being too harsh towards Francis. I mean… he's a young dolphin and it's only natural that he's curious about the world. Maybe it would be better to allow him to explore the world more. But I don't want to lose my son like I lost my husband. I don't know what's best anymore."

William frowned, and he was silent for a while. Maybe now it was time to tell Nora what he had slowly begin to notice about Francis. She should know, because she was his mother and she had the right to know the truth.

The whale looked around to be sure there was no on who could hear him. He lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Nora, listen," he said. "there's something I've been meaning to tell you about your son."

Nora's eyes widened. What now? Was there something wrong with Francis?

"You see," William continued at the same soft tone. "Ever since Francis came to my lessons I've noticed something strange about him. It isn't his curiosity or his tendency to be late for class every day. Nora, Francis is very different from the other dolphins. I think he knows it and he's trying to hide what he really is."

"But…" Nora said softly. "I know my son. He's a sweet boy, he wouldn't harm a fly."

"Oh, I'm sure that Francis has a friendly nature," William said. "At least now that he's still young and carefree. But we have to be careful with him. You see, I have reason to believe that Francis is very intelligent."

"Of course he is," Nora said. "I've always known that."

"I mean even more than what he shows to us," William said. "I mean he might be more intelligent than all the other dolphins."

"What?" Nora said, with her eyes widened in surprise. "But why did I never notice that?"

"He's hiding it," William said. "Or he hasn't completely found it out for himself yet. I'm not sure. But I know that over-intelligent dolphins should be treated with caution. Francis might be intelligent, he's still foolish at the same time. If he snaps, he might turn into something horrible."

Nora shook her head.

"No," she said. "Francis is my son. I love him, and I will never believe he will become a monster. You are wrong, William."

"Nora, please listen…" William started, but Nora cut him off.

"I think we are done talking, Mr. William," she said with her nose held high. "thank you for your help, but I think I know my son better than you do. Goodbye."

As the dolphin mother swam away, William sighed. He could understand Nora's reaction, but he just wished she would take his words more seriously. He was only trying to help. He didn't want Francis to become someone horrible either, but he believed it was very much possible. He had seen enough examples.

Creatures who were so intelligent and so foolish at the same time didn't always see the difference between right and wrong well enough. And in William's eyes, Francis was slowly turning more and more to the wrong side.

But he hoped he was wrong.


	4. Chapter - the net

**Cyborg.**

**Chapter 3 – the net.**

…

"We've been here long enough," Doris said. "let's just go back home now."

"Just a minute more," Francis said while searching the bottom of the sea for interesting objects. "and what is your problem? You used to like to go on adventures. What happened to that?"

Doris sighed. "I just don't want to disobey mother, Francis," she said. "she's already stressed and everything. I don't want to make her feel bad."

This time Francis didn't answer, because suddenly something caught his eye. At first it just seemed like a piece of wood, but when the young dolphin swam closer he could see that is was something made by humans. It was half hidden under the sand on the sea bottom. He grabbed the object with both flippers and pulled it out of the sand.

Now that is wasn't partially covered anymore, Francis could see that is was a wooden chest. There was a lock on it, but the metal was so rusty that it could be easily broken. When Francis opened the chest to see what was inside, he gasped.

"What?" Doris, who couldn't help but be curious after all, asked. "What did you find?"

"Books." Francis said with a very big smile on his face. "This chest is filled with books."

Doris looked a bit disappointed. "Oh," she said. "is that all? I thought it was something amazing, like a hidden treasure or something like that. Let's just throw those old things away and go back home."

"No," Francis said. "I want to keep them."

Doris raised an eyebrow. "What?" she said. "and where would you keep them? Also, they are no use to us dolphins. You know that we can't read."

"I…." Francis stopped before he could finish the sentence. He had actually wanted to say that he could read, but he remembered that that wouldn't be something wise to say.

"You what?" Doris asked, starting to get impatient.

"I… just want to look at the pictures." Francis said quickly, not being able to think of something better at the moment.

"Okay, okay," Doris said. "Just take those darn books already. Now let's just go home before mother realizes we are gone and gets a heart attack."

Francis took the chest with books in both his flippers, and he followed his sister back to the surface. He was a little slower than she was because of the weight of the books, but he managed.

They were lucky, because when they were home only for a few seconds, long enough for Francis to hide the books in a small hole in the rock, their mother came back.

"I'm back," Nora said. "Did you have fun today?"

Doris and Francis nodded, and said almost at the same time: "Yes, of course."

Now that Francis saw his mother in front of him, smiling sweetly at them, he felt a bit guilty for lying to her. But as long as she didn't find out it wouldn't harm, would it?

"Great," Nora said, smiling. "then we can eat now."

They ate their dinner in silence. Francis wanted to ask his mother what William had said to her, but he didn't. If it was something she wanted to tell him, she would have told him by now.

Above the water the sun slowly disappeared behind the horizon, and it became dark. One by one the dolphins swam upwards, where they stayed right below the surface of the water so that they could rest there. After all, dolphins never sleep.

But Francis couldn't get any rest that night. He kept thinking of the books he had found. What were they about?

His curiosity got the better of him and after checking if his mother and sister were really resting and wouldn't notice him going away, he swam back down to the rock where their house was.

Be took the books out of the hole he had hid them in and began to read.

…

When Doris opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was her brother being gone.

"Oh no," she said. "not again."

She looked to her left side, where Nora was still swimming with her eyes closed. She was still resting and didn't notice that her daughter was awake.

Doris swam down to the rock, and was relieved to see that her brother was there, with his nose in one of the books.

"Francis!" Doris said. "don't ever swim away again, I thought you were gone."

Francis looked up from his book. "Doris?" he said. "why are you here? Wait… is it morning already?"

"Of course it's morning," Doris said. "what time did you think it was?"

Francis put the book he was reading back in the hole with the other books.

"I… I lost track of time," he said. "these books… they are so interesting."

"You've been down here with those books all night?" Doris asked. Then she shook her head as she realized what Francis had just said.

"Wait, wait," she said. "you're telling me… you can read?"

Francis blushed. "I… no, no I can't," he lied.

Doris crossed her flippers over her chest. "Francis," she said. "you're lying. Tel me: when did you learn to read?"

Francis didn't look his sister in the eyes. Instead he looked down with an embarrassed look on his face.

"I don't know," he said softly. "I first realized I could read when I looked at the name of a ship, and I suddenly noticed I could understand it. Since then I've been trying to teach myself to read even better. And… well, I did learn to read better. But I was afraid everyone would think I'm a freak if they knew about it, so I didn't tell anyone."

Doris bit her lip. She didn't really know what to think about it. It was indeed strange: a dolphin who could read. Reading was something invented by humans, not animals. Doris had always been taught that animals aren't supposed to read.

"Okay," the female dolphin eventually said with a sigh. "let's get rid of those books and forget all about them, okay? Then I promise I won't tell anyone that you can read."

Francis looked at the books. "But…" he said softly. "I… I can't forget them. I remember every single word in those books. I will never forget what I read in them."

He looked up to see his sister look at him with worry in her big, blue eyes. He bit his lip and was silent for a while. Then he sighed deeply.

"Okay," he said. "let's get rid of the books."

Without saying a word, Francis and Doris took all of the books out of the hole in the rock they were hidden in, and they swam away. They swam as far away from home as they were allowed to.

While swimming, Francis couldn't stop thinking of everything he had learned that day. Math, science, chemistry, everything. He still thought it was fascinating, but he didn't say anything about it. Doris wouldn't understand it anyway. And Francis knew his sister was worried about him. He didn't want to make her more worried than she already was.

When they were far away enough from home and the other dolphins, they dropped the books and Francis watched as they sank back to the bottom of the sea where he had found them.

"Francis," Doris said. "will you please promise me you won't go looking for those things anymore?"

Francis nodded slowly. "Of course, sis." He said.

After a short silence, Doris said: "Come on, Francis. Let's go home."

Francis sighed and followed his sister. He wished the other dolphins wouldn't find reading such a big deal. After all, everyone could learn it. And why did they think it was unnatural?

Francis woke up from his thoughts when a shadow suddenly fell over him and his sister. He stopped swimming and looked around.

"Hey, what is happening?"

Doris stopped too and looked up. Right above them was a ship, Francis recognized the shape. It wasn't the same ship as he had seen before, but it they still looked alike. It was a fisher's ship.

"I thought they weren't going to fish here anymore?" Doris said.

"Maybe they're pirate fishers?" Francis asked. "You know, humans that catch fish illegally?"

Doris opened her mouth to answer, but Francis never found out what she was about to say, because suddenly they got caught in something. There was a moment of pure chaos, and Francis had no idea what was happening.

"Doris!" he screamed, for he couldn't see his sister anymore. There were fish all around him.

"Francis!"

He heard his sister's voice very close to him, and he sighed in relief. She was still there.

But what was happening?

It was when he came out of the water and looked at the faces of the fishers that he realized he and Doris were caught in a net full of fish, and they were being brought aboard.


	5. Chapter 4 - the humans

**Author's note:**

**Hi, everybody.**

**I'm terribly sorry for not updating this story. I've**

**been busy with other projects outside **

**and I just didn't have the time to write anything. **

**Also, I apologise that this is only a short chapter**

**today. I hope that the next one will be longer and**

**better.**

**I'll try to update more often.**

**Snowy Stoat.**

**...**

**Cyborg.**

**Chapter 4 – the humans.**

…

Nora opened her eyes and smiled as she turned around.

"Good morn…."

She didn't finish her sentence as she saw that the spot where Francis and Doris were always resting was empty. Nora felt panic filling her body, but she took a deep breath and stayed calm.

"They just went down to the rock earlier," the mother dolphin said to herself. "it's fine, don't panic."

Quickly she swam down to the rock and called for her children. When she didn't get any answer, she swam around the rock a few times in the hope to find her children.

But they weren't there.

As fast as she could, she swam to the old ship where William lived.

"William!" she called out. "William, are you home?"

Slowly, the old whale left the ship to see who was calling for him.

"Nora?" he said when he saw the dolphin in front of him. "What's the matter? You don't look well."

"Francis and Doris," Nora said, slightly out of breath. "they're gone. I can't find them anywhere."

William frowned. "Are you sure?" he asked. "have you looked everywhere?"

Nora looked down. "Well, not everywhere, but…" she said softly.

William sighed. "I understand your concern," he said. "come on, I'll help you to look for them."

"Thank you," Nora said as she followed the whale.

"Thank me if we find them," William said.

He frowned. He was hoping that Francis hadn't gotten himself and his sister in trouble.

…

Francis had no idea what was happening. There was bright light everywhere; noise was the only thing he could hear. The noise of the waves, human voices and other things he couldn't make out. He vaguely noticed he was lying on the deck of a ship, surrounded by fish. Doris was next to him.

He held out his flipper and she grabbed it with hers. Whatever was going on, they were still alive and together.

Francis could hear one of the humans mention something.

"Someone will pay a good price for two young dolphins." the human said.

"Good idea," another human said. "keep them alive somehow. We're sailing back to port. I think I know a place where we can sell them."

"Isn't that illegal?" a third human asked.

"What we're doing is already illegal," the other answered. "what does it matter? Besides, we can get twice as rich the illegal way."

Humans rolled Francis and Doris to the other end of the deck. There they put wet blankets over them so their skin wouldn't burn in the sun.

"Francis?" Doris whispered when they were alone. "where are they taking us?"

"I don't know," Francis answered. "but they said they were going to sell us somewhere."

"What do you think will happen to us when someone buys us?" Doris asked.

"I have no idea." Francis said.

"Do you think humans eat dolphins?" Doris asked, and a shiver went down her spine.

Francis didn't answer, because he wasn't sure about that either. What if humans indeed ate dolphins? Then they were doomed.

Suddenly, Francis didn't like the humans very much anymore. Why had he been so curious? If he hadn't taken those cursed books, they would be safe at home by now.

"I wish I hadn't been so curious," he said to his sister. "I'm so sorry, Doris."

"Don't blame this upon yourself," Doris said.

Francis smiled at her, but his smile faded away when after a short silence she added: "Though, it actually is your fault."

"Hey!" Francis yelled.

"I'm only saying it as it is," Doris said, her nose high.

"Doris, this is not the time to fight." Francis said. "We're trapped on a human boat, we're being kidnapped to 'I-don't-know-where', we might get killed or hurt."

Doris sighed, and Francis suddenly saw tears in her big, blue eyes.

"Oh, Francis," his sister sobbed. "I'm so afraid. Will we ever see our mother again?"

Francis couldn't look her in her eyes anymore.

"I don't know, Doris," he said. "I… I'm afraid too."

…

"We've searched everywhere, Nora," William said. "just face it: they're gone."

Nora's voice was shaking when she answered.

"But why?" she asked. "And how?"

"You know I can't answer that question, Nora," William said. "I'm as helpless as you are. All we can do is pray for them to come back. They might think better of it and return."

"What do you mean?" Nora said. "You think they ran away?"

William sighed and hesitated. But after thinking for a few seconds he answered Nora's question. "Yes, I do." He said. "And to be honest, I think it was Francis' idea."

"What is your problem with my son?" Nora asked him. "Is it just because he's smart? What does that really say about him, William? Nothing, nothing at all. You may be his teacher, but I'm his mother. Francis wouldn't run away. And he would certainly not bring Doris with him if it put her in danger. Something happened to them, but they didn't run away."

"Believe whatever you want, Nora," William said. "But when Francis snaps, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Go to hell!" Nora shouted at the whale.

She turned around and swam away. She couldn't believe that William thought Francis was evil. He had never done anything wrong.

When she was far away enough from William, Nora stopped swimming and sighed deeply.

"My poor children," she said with tears in her eyes. "Whatever happened to you?"


	6. Chapter 5 - Coney Island

**Cyborg.**

**Chapter 5 – Coney Island.**

…

Francis opened his eyes slowly. Had he actually been sleeping? He didn't know anymore.

He could feel water all around him. Could it be that he was back home, and that everything that had happened was just a bad dream? But no, that couldn't be. This wasn't the nice, salt water that he was used to. This water was clean, blue and it tasted like… chlorine.

"Where am I?" Francis asked himself.

"That's what I've been thinking," he heard a voice next to him. He looked and saw Doris. She had a worried expression on her face.

"Are you alright, Francis?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he said. "Do you know what happened?"

Doris shook her head. "I have no idea. I think I just blacked out, I can't remember how we got here."

Francis looked around. The water was very bright, he could see further than he was used to.

Om many sides there were just walls made of blue stones. But one wall was made of glass, and Francis could see there was a hallway behind it.

"What is this place?" Doris asked. "Francis, I'm scared."

Francis took his sister's flippers in his.

"Don't worry, Doris," he said. "we will get home somehow. I swear, I will get us out of here."

Suddenly, Doris looked over hid shoulder and gasped.

"Francis, look!" she said, pointing her flipper at the glass.

Francis turned around and saw two humans standing in the hallway behind the glass. It was a female with a little male human by her side. The boy stepped forward and pushed his nose against the glass. He said something to his mother, but the two dolphins couldn't hear any sounds from the hallway. The glass and the water blocked all sounds from them.

"We're in… some kind of aquarium," Francis said. "here people come to look at us."

"Why?" Doris asked.

"I don't know," her brother answered. "They think it's entertaining, I guess."

Doris put her flippers on her sides. "Well I think it's a violation of our privacy." She said.

Francis didn't answer. Instead, he swam upwards until his head was out of the water. He looked around.

He wasn't in a building, as he had expected. He was outside. And close to the sea, because he could hear waves, and above his head he saw seagulls flying. The pool he was in was surrounded by a low brick wall. Behind the wall were more humans.

"Look!" some of them said as they pointed at Francis.

Some of the humans took pictures of him. Francis tried to ignore it and looked past the humans.

There were more pools, and in some of them the young dolphin could see other marine animals. A seal in the pool next to him waved at him. She had a slightly sad expression on her face.

Francis frowned. Then he noticed the high wall behind him. He turned around to look at it, and saw that it was white. Big, blue letters had been painted on it.

"Coney Island," Francis read out loud.

"Coney Island?" Francis turned around to see that his sister was next to him now.

He nodded. "Yes," he said. "I think that's what this place is called."

"So this is where those illegal fishers brought us," Doris said with a sigh.

"Yeah," Francis said. "and I bet they got quite some money for us."

They went back under water, because they just couldn't stand all those people staring at them. Unfortunately, there was still the hallway and the people behind the glass. There was no place where they could have some privacy.

The whole day long they stayed in the pool, surrounded by humans every single hour.

One time when Francis came above the water to breathe, he noticed something else: a small arena. He heard cheering, and he caught a glimpse of a dolphin jumping in the air.

"What on earth do they do to us here?" Francis wondered out loud.

…

When it became dark the humans left. A few men with buckets full of fish came, and they fed the other marine animals in the pools.

"Why don't we get anything?" Francis said as he watched the female seal next to them eat her fish.

The seal looked up at him and frowned. When the men left and everything became silent, the seal swam towards the edge of her pool and looked at Francis and Doris.

"Are you two alright?" she asked.

Francis and Doris swam closer.

"I think so," Francis said. "but we're hungry."

"You can have my last fish, if you want," the seal said, and without waiting for an answer she threw the fish into the pool of the two dolphins.

Brother and sister shared the fish honestly. It wasn't much, but it was at least something.

"Why didn't we get anything from those men?" Doris asked the seal.

"They want you to be hungry," she said. "so that they can train you tomorrow."

Francis frowned. "What?"

The seal sighed. "Did you see that dolphin in the arena today?" she asked. "he was performing tricks for the humans, to entertain them. He has to jump through hoops, humans like the sort of stuff."

"But why?" Francis asked.

"Don't try and make sense out of the humans," the seal said with a sad expression. "they are all insane."

"How long will we stay here?" Doris asked.

"Your whole life," the seal said.

Doris gasped.

"Nobody gets out of here." The seal finished. "That dolphin you saw jumping through hoops today, he's been here since he was a child. He's old now and won't live much longer. When the humans decide that it's his time, you two will take his place. The humans already gave you your names."

"But we have names," Doris said. "I'm Doris, and he's Francis."

"But the humans don't know that," the seal said. "They call you Dotty and Flippy. Those are names that will interest the audience."

Francis snorted. "Well I'm not going to stay here," he said. "we'll escape somehow. No matter what, we will get back home."

"The last animal who tried to escape here was my husband Geogre," the seal said. "he came no further than the porch. The humans caught him, and then they decided they couldn't let him perform tricks anymore. He had become wild, they said."

"What happened to him?" Doris asked.

The seal closed her eyes sadly. "They killed him," she said softly. "that's what happens when you do something the humans don't like. They will kill you."

Francis felt Doris grab his flipper.

"Oh, Francis," she sobbed. "I'm so scared."

Francis didn't know what he could say to comfort her. So he just hugged his sister tightly.

"You two better get some rest," the seal said. "the humans will probably start training you tomorrow, so you will need your energy."

Francis sighed. "Thank you, mrs…."

"Debora," the seal said with a half smile. "Just call me Debora. That's my real name."

Francis looked at the name that was on the wall around her pool.

'Becky the seal' he read.

So the humans had given her a name, too.

"Good night, Debora," Francis said to her.

She smiled and swam away from the wall, disappearing from Francis' sight.

The two young dolphins stayed awake for a little longer, staring at the stars above them. They were all alone, far away from their house and family. At the moment, Francis would even have been glad to see William. He longed to see something familiar.

But everything here was strange to him.

_This is all my fault._ Francis thought to himself.


	7. Chapter 6 - the trainers

**Hey, everybody.**

**I am so sorry I didn't update this fanfic for so long.**

**The laptop that I use to write this story crashed, and**

**it had to be repaired first. Luckily it's working again**

**and I'll do my best to continue this story.**

**I am sorry if there are some typos in this chapter,**

**I am a bit distracted today. I did read the chapter**

**before I posted it, but I might have missed some**

**typos.**

**Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter.**

**Snowy Stoat.**

**...**

**Cyborg.**

**Chapter 6 – The trainers.**

…

Early in the morning, the humans returned. All animals got some fish from the buckets that the humans were carrying. All animals except for Francis and Doris, who looked at the eating animals with an empty stomach and a sad expression on their faces.

"How long are they going to keep us like this?" Doris asked. "We'll be starving before they get to train us if they go on like this."

"Don't worry," Debora's voice said from the habitat next to them. "they will give you food during your training. Just do whatever they want, and they will feed you."

"I don't want to do anything they want," Francis said angrily. "They don't have power over me."

Doris sighed sadly. "I'm afraid they do, Francis," she said. "we are their prisoners, and they are the ones that have the food. We'll have no choice."

"Then we'll escape the moment that we have the chance." Francis insisted. "I will not let these humans tell me what to do."

"What happened to your interest in the humans?" Doris asked her brother.

Francis suddenly fell silent. Doris was right, what happened? Maybe it was just that he felt betrayed by the humans. After all, he only wanted to know more about them. He never meant to harm them, and this is what they did to him and his sister. They imprisoned them in this awful place, and now they were going to force them into doing anything they wanted. What kind of creature would do that?

Francis sighed. His mother and William had been right. They had always been right. Why hadn't he listened to them before? Why had he been so foolish?

"Francis, look!" Doris suddenly cried out.

Francis snapped out of his thoughts and looked up. Two men had come towards the habitat. They walked towards the small part of the high wall that was made of steel. Together they pulled it out, revealing a passage to another habitat.

Francis and Doris, thinking it may be their way out if this place, immediately swam through the hole in the wall. They ended up in another habitat, that was similar to theirs but not completely the same. It was slightly bigger and had a small island in the middle with three poles on it. At the top of each pole was a large hoop. Around the pool were seats meant for a public to sit on. But there were no humans except for two men in blue suits.

"Where are we now?" Doris asked out loud.

"Hello, young dolphins." a voice behind her said, and she let out a yelp of shock. She and her brother turned around quickly to see an old dolphin behind them.

His skin was wrinkled and his eyes looked like they were only half open. It made the old dolphin look very tired. He had a long scar on the left side of his neck, that almost looked like one half of a collar.

"Who are you?" Francis asked, swimming between the old dolphin and Doris to protect her from a possible attack.

"Don't be alarmed," the old dolphin said. "my name is Manuel, but the humans here call me Manny. I am an unfortunate soul, just like you two. They captured me the same way you have been captured, and locked me up. I'm the oldest star of Coney Island."

"Have you been here all your life?" Doris asked, pushing Francis aside so that she could look Manuel in the eyes.

I was brought here when I was about your age," Manuel replied. "that was many years ago."

"How horrible," Doris said. "you poor thing."

"You'll get used to this life just like I did, young lady," the old dolphin said. "but now the time to talk is over. We need to train."

One of the men in the blue suits stepped into the water. He had a hoop in his hands. He walked towards Manuel, and Francis and Doris swam backwards so that they didn't have to come close to the human.

He human made a clicking sound with his tongue, and Manuel reacted to that by jumping through the hoop. He fell back into the water on the other side of the hoop, stayed under water for a few second and then came to the surface again.

The other man in blue took a fish from a bucket and threw it to the old dolphin. Manuel ate it gratefully. Then he looked at Francis and Doris.

"Do you understand how it works?" he asked.

The old dolphin did the same thing a few more times. And every time he jumped through the hoop, he got a fish in return.

Eventually, the human with the hoop walked towards Francis and Doris. Francis swam backwards immediately. He didn't want to get close to the human. But to his surprise, Doris didn't move.

"Doris, what are you doing?" Francis hissed.

"I'm getting something to eat." Was the answer.

The human made that clicking sound again, and Doris jumped through the hoop without a problem.

Francis looked in surprise as the humans clapped their hands, and the one with the bucket threw a fish at Doris.

When Doris had eaten her fish, she turned to Francis.

"It's easy, Francis," she said. "come on, you only need to jump through the hoop and you'll get food."

But Francis shook his head.

"No," he said. "I will not do anything these humans ask of me. They don't control me."

He felt a flipper on his shoulder.

"Young man," Manuel said with a deep frown on his face. "Don't be foolish. These humans are cruel; they will let you starve to death unless you do tricks for them. It's the only way you will survive."

But Francis stayed stubborn. "No," he said. "I will not show any weakness. They don't own me, and they will know it."

"You are a fool, young dolphin." Manuel said.

Francis looked at him angrily. "That's what everybody has always told me," he said. "I am not a fool. I am smarter than the both of you combined. I can read, I can count, I know more than even these humans do."

But Manuel shook his head. "Being smart doesn't change that you're a fool," he said. "you are too proud and too stubborn, that is what makes you a fool. You will die if you don't cooperate."

"I will escape from here," Francis said. "Just wait."

Manuel sighed. "You don't know what you're starting, young man. I hope you will change your mind. Otherwise, you're doomed."

The whole day the humans spend training the dolphins. Doris was making great progress, but Francis refused to do anything. He didn't even get close to the humans, and that made them frown.

At the end of the day, Francis and Doris were brought back to their own habitat.

Francis didn't say anything. He felt weak and tired. His stomach was grumbling, but when the humans with the buckets came they didn't give him anything.

"You can't go on like this, Francis," Debora said in the habitat next to them. "you'll have to accept that you are stuck here for the rest of your life, and you'll have to do as the humans say. There's no other way."

"I will find a way," Francis said.

He swam to a corner of the habitat to get some rest, trying to ignore his empty stomach.

Debora and Doris looked at him with worried expressions on their faces.


	8. Chapter 7 - Resignation

**Cyborg**

**Chapter 7 – Resignation. **

…

Days went by, and Francis became weaker. He barely ate anything. Eventually the humans did give him something to keep him alive, but not enough to make his hunger go away.

Francis became pale and black circles appeared around his eyes. Through his skin his bones slowly became more visible. He started to look like he was in some sort of trance. He got a hollow look in his eyes. He rarely spoke and usually just stared in front of him without seeing anything.

Doris tried to give him some of the fish she got, but he refused. And slowly, he also started to deny the few fishes that the humans gave him to keep him alive.

After all, it was from the humans. He didn't want to take anything from them.

While Francis got weaker, Doris became stronger every day. She quickly became the humans' favourite dolphin. They said she was talented, and they were right.

Manuel seemed proud of her as well. Also because he was glad there was a dolphin to replace him. He was old and tired and wouldn't be able to preform much longer.

Every week, the trainers still tried to train Francis. But it didn't work, he was too stubborn to obey to them. Also, he quickly became too weak to do anything.

Doris worried about him a lot. She was afraid she would lose her brother.

Debora shared her worry. She had quickly become a good friend of the two dolphins, especially Doris. She found herself caring about the two young ones, and wanted to help them more than anything.

But what else was there to do than hope Francis would surrender? There was no other way.

And one day, what always seemed impossible finally happened.

It was training day, and Francis watched Doris jump through the hoops. She was already good enough to jump through the higher hoops in the small island in the middle of the pool.

When Doris' turn was over, the trainer came towards Francis with a hoop in his hands.

Francis opened his reddened eyes and stared at it as if he was in a trance. Then he looked at the trainer who looked back at him hopefully.

Then, Francis jumped.

He was too weak to jump through the hoop. He missed and hit his head. It hurt, but he was so weak that he hardly recognized the pain.

There was a splash as something was thrown into the water. Francis looked aside and noticed the humans had thrown him a fish. He didn't think and ate it without hesitation. When he tasted the flesh of the fish, he already felt new energy filling his body.

He looked at the hoop again. He hesitated, and then jumped. He missed again, but still the humans threw him a fish.

At the end of the day Francis was strong enough to jump through the hoop one time.

When they got back into their own habitat, Doris hugged her brother.

"I'm so glad you did it, Francis," she said with tears in her eyes. "I was so worried I was going to lose you. I'm so proud of you."

"What's there to be proud of?" Francis mumbled. "I surrendered to the humans. I am weak…"

"No, Francis," Doris said. "You choose to live. That's what you did. I know it's hard, but you'll get used to it."

"No," Francis said. "I will still find a way to escape. No matter what."

Doris sighed. "All that matters to me, Francis, is that you live." She said.

…

As the weeks went by, Francis got stronger and better. He had enough to eat now, and quickly started to look better. The trainers were very pleased with this improvement.

Francis wasn't.

He wished he could punch those humans in the face. They were the cause of everything. They were to blame.

Francis missed his home. He longed to see the open sea again. He wanted to be free again. But he still mostly missed his mother. What would become of her if her children never returned? She had already lost her husband, could she bear to lose someone else she loved?

Doris didn't seem like she wanted to leave. She had all the attention from the trainers, Manuel and even the kind Debora.

Sometimes Francis looked at her and he could swear that she looked… happy.

Was she actually happy here? Francis couldn't believe it. They were slaves, imprisoned and humiliated by the humans. How could anyone be happy about that?

…

One night, Francis was staring at the big letters on the wall that spelled 'Coney Island'. But he didn't really see the words. He was thinking.

There seemed to be no possible way to escape. He tried the sewer a few days ago, but the pipes weren't big enough for him or Doris to fit through. Trying to escape through the front porch was ridiculous. Dolphins are useless on land.

What other way could there be.

"You know we're going to preform for the humans tomorrow," Doris said suddenly, waking him up from his thoughts.

Francis growled softly. "I know," he said. "You don't need to remind me."

"Maybe you should get some rest?" Doris asked.

"Just let me think," Francis replied, annoyed.

Doris sighed. "What is wrong with you, Francis?" she asked. "You are so touchy lately. Why can't you just act normal?"

Francis turned around angrily.

"Normal?" He asked. "How am I supposed to act normal in this place. I want to get out."

"I know that," Doris said. "But…."

Francis didn't let her finish her sentence. Angrily he shouted at her: "Why do you act so normally about all this, Doris? Are you really happy here? What about mom, huh? Don't you miss her? Don't you ever think about how she will miss us? Why are you like this?!"

"Hey, be quiet!" someone in another habitat shouted. "It's the middle of the night!"

Francis looked in the direction where the voice was coming from, then he looked back at Doris. Now it was she who looked angry.

"Do you really think I don't care?" she said in a half whispering tone. "You have no idea how much I miss mother. I suffer as much as you do, Francis."

"Then why don't you want to escape?" Francis asked in the same kind of whispering voice.

"I do want to escape." Doris replied.

Francis blinked.

"I'm just…." Doris sighed deeply. "All I'm trying to do is not give myself false hope. Because then it would only be worse if we found out that we ere stuck here forever. Don't you see? I want to get out of here as much as you do. But I don't want to get hurt."

Francis was silent for a while, and he big his lip. The he looked up at his sister.

"Doris," he said. "I… I'm sorry."

Doris looked away. "It's alright, Francis," she said. "You didn't know."

There was a long silence. But it was eventually broken by the voice of Debora.

"Are you two alright?" she asked.

"Yes, Debora," Doris said quickly. "We're fine."

"Then you should get some rest now," Debora said. "It will be a busy day for you tomorrow."

Francis sighed, and wished he was far away from there.


	9. Chapter 8 - First performance

**Cyborg**

**Chapter 8 – first performance.**

…

William hadn't seen Nora in days. First he thought he'd better leave her alone, because she might still be angry at him and sad that her children were gone.

But after more than a week he got worried, and finally he left the shipwreck he lived in and swam towards the stone of Nora's home. He found the mother dolphin close to the surface of the water.

"Nora," he said. "I haven't seen you in a long time. Are you alright?"

Nora turned around and William was shocked at how old and weak she suddenly looked. Her eyes were reddened and there were suddenly wrinkles around her nose that William hadn't seen on her before. She looked as if she was very tired.

"I'm going, William," Nora said.

"Where?" William just asked.

"I don't know," was the answer. "But I will find my children."

She turned around to swim away, but William stopped her.

"Dear Nora," he said. "Please don't be so foolish. The open seas are a big place. It would be senseless to go search for two young dolphins in the entire world. They could be anywhere."

"And what do you suggest, then?" Nora asked angrily. "Just sit here and wait while God knows what has happened to my babies? No, sir. I will not be a weakling, like you."

"Nora…" William began, hoping to talk some sense into the mother dolphin.

"No!" Nora screamed at him. "I will not listen to you any longer. I've had it with you and your so-called good advice. I'm leaving to find my kids and nobody is going to stop me!"

With those words she turned around and swam away. And William did not try to stop her.

…

All those humans…

Francis tried to swallow a lump in his throat.

This was the day of his and Doris' first performance. It seemed like all tickets had been sold, because there were no places left for any more humans to sit. Francis had never seen so many humans in one place.

While Manuel performed his tricks, Francis and Doris silently watched.

"Are you nervous?" Doris asked her brother.

"A little," Francis said in a small voice. "You?"

Doris swallowed. "Very." She said.

Francis took her flipper in his.

"You're going to be alright," he said even though he wasn't sure he could believe himself. "you're the best dolphin in all of Coney Island."

Doris smiled at him. "Thank you, Francis." She said.

The looked up when they heard the human with the microphone in front of the audience say: "and now Coney Island's new stars: Flippy and Dotty the Dolphins!"

"That's our cue," Doris said.

Quickly, the two dolphins swam forwards, still holding each other's flippers. Manuel swam past them, and whispered: "good luck" before swimming to his trainer to get his reward for the performance.

It was first Francis' turn. By the gestures his trainer made he could see what was expected of him.

He swam around, jumped through the hoop, made backflips and did all the other tricks that he had learned in the past few weeks. He tried to ignore the noise of the crowd as much as he could in order to concentrate.

Before he knew it, it was over and he swam towards his trainer to get his reward: a fish.

Then it was Doris' turn.

She was a natural. Francis didn't need to look at her for long to see that she was much better than he was. And no wonder, she had had more training.

The crowd agreed with him: this dolphin was the best. They cheered louder than before, and eventually Francis held his flippers over his ears because the noise was just too loud.

Then it was over. When Francis looked on the clock in de wall behind him, he saw that it was five O' clock already. The time had gone fast.

Doris got her reward, and finally the dolphins could go back to their own habitats.

It didn't last long until the sky became darker and the last humans finally left Coney Island. The humans with the buckets of food came, and everyone ate.

When they were alone, Debora leaned over the wall of het own habitat.

"Francis, Doris!" she said.

The two young dolphins swam to the edge of their pool to talk to her.

"Hello, Debora." Doris said.

"Well done, you two," Debora said, smiling. "You'll soon become Coney Island's new stars, I'm sure of it."

Francis growled softly. "Puh," he said. "New stars, new stars…. All I want is to get out of here."

Debora rolled her eyes. "Don't start again, Francis," she said. "You know that there's no way out."

"That's what you believe." Francis said.

"Francis…." Debora started, but suddenly Doris interrupted them.

"Don't start fighting, you two," she said. "listen, Francis is right. There is a way out."

"What?!" Debora said, startled.

"I am?" Francis asked.

"When I jumped through the high hoop during our performance, I saw something." Doris said. "the ocean is right behind the public's seats."

"Really?" Francis said with a bit of hope in his voice.

"I could have told you that, Doris." Debora said.

"Well we can jump right over the crowd on our next performance," Doris said, excited.

"Oh, Doris," Debora said shaking her head. "That's a foolish plan. You'll never reach it."

"Maybe you can't," Doris said. "But we're dolphins. We can jump much further than you. We could make it…"

"Please put it out of your head," Debora said. "Accidents are bound to happen. You'll be sorry."

"I think it's a great plan." Francis said, smiling at his sister. Doris smiled back.

"When is our next performance?"

"The day after tomorrow," Debora said. "But please, don't be stupid."

At that moment, there was a cry of pain to be heard in Coney Island.

Francis and Doris looked up when they heard it.

"What was that?" Doris asked.

"Manuel," Debora said sadly. "The humans have killed him."


End file.
